Tuesday, 23 May 2017

Senate urges judiciary to re-visit law on rape, other sexual offences

The Senate has called on the judiciary to re-visit the law on all
sexual offences, especially rape and domestic violence, to address the
seriousness they bear.

It also urged Police authorities to
investigate and prosecute cases of sexual abuse, violation and violence
in line with the provisions of extant laws of the Federation.

This
followed a motion by the Deputy Leader of the Senate, Sen. Bala Ibn
Na’Allah, entitled “Urgent Need to Investigate Alarming Rate of Rape and
Sexual Assault against Women, Children and Vulnerable People across the
Country’’.

Presenting the motion, the lawmaker said that the
frightening increase in sexual violence cases, particularly rape where
more than half of the victims were minors and children below the age of
consent.

He said that in most of the cases, the perpetrators were
usually familiar neighbours, employers of labour and close family
members.

“The activities of these sexual predators constitute a
serious security threat to the larger segment of our society and are
severely under-reported.

“The perversion is spreading across the
country, with both the male and female gender as victims, especially in
view of the poor prosecution and conviction numbers being turned out.

“It
was stated that 1,480 cases of domestic violence, ranging from rape,
child abuse, sexual abuse, assaults, defilement, to matrimonial issues
were recorded in two years,’’ he said.

Na’Allah recalled a Human
Rights Watch publication which alleged that government officials raped
and sexually abused women and girls who survived Boko Haram violence, a
case yet to be legally concluded.

He said that it was time the disturbing trend was curbed, and stressed that it portrayed the country in a bad light.

He
called for full implementation of the Violence against Persons
Prohibition Act and the Sexual Offences in Tertiary Institutions
Prohibition Bill 2016 to combat the crime.

In his contribution,
the Deputy Minority Whip, Sen. Biodun Olujimi, expressed concern at the
rise in sexual offences across the country.

She said that it was
high time law enforcement agencies and other relevant stakeholders took
the issue of rape, other sexual offences and domestic violence seriously
to serve as deterrent.

“Yesterday, a one-year-old child was snatched from the back of the mother by six men and raped to death.
“Rape is bad and disgusting and there is a mental issue attached to rapists. The issue of paedophiles is also on the increase.

“Unfortunately, those that are supposed to curb the crime are guilty because they turn their eyes away from this heinous crime.

“Our
law enforcement agencies must enforce laws on rape and other related
laws and the time has come to ensure our laws are strengthened.

“In
fact, there is nothing wrong in saying that people who rape should be
shot because it has come to that. Girls are no longer safe even at homes
and dormitories,’’ Olujimi said.

The
Chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe, while
supporting the motion said it was expedient for the National Assembly,
particularly the Senate, to wade into the matter in view of its
seriousness.

He also urged law enforcement agencies to diligently carry out their duties in order to build the confidence reposed in them.

Abaribe
decried the situation where victims who were meant to get justice were
subjected to more torture by law enforcement agencies, saying that it
was unacceptable.

He added that rape victims were often scared to
report such cases because they didn’t know what to expect, adding that
all hands must be deck to tackle the menace.

The Chairman,
Committee on Poverty Alleviation, Sen. Ali Wakili, said it was pathetic
that some Nigerians had lost their senses of humanity.

He called for the strengthening of extant laws to check the crime, which affected mostly women and children.

“We as people have lost our sense of humanity and we have allowed our animalistic tendency to take a better part of us.

“We
now live in a society where morals are no longer taught. Yesterday I
saw on social media where someone was caught raping in a mosque. This
shows the level of degeneration in our society.

“We need to go back to history and regenerate our moral values and our religious leaders have a duty in that respect,’’ he said.

Equally, Sen. Joshua Lidani (PDP-Gombe) said that the rise in the number of paedophiles in the country called for concern.

“The issue of sexual offence is not restricted to any part of the country. It is everywhere and it gives course for concern.

“Today the rape of children is on the increase and one of the problems of prosecuting rape is proving evidence of penetration.

“I
think we need to strengthen our laws and our religious leaders should
equally play a part in finding lasting solution to this problem,’’ he
said.

The lawmaker called for whistle-blowing on rape.

In
his remarks, the Deputy President of the Senate, Mr Ike Ekweremadu, who
presided at plenary, commended the deputy leader of the senate for
coming up with the motion.

He expressed optimism that with
increase in reported cases of rape and other sexual offences in the
country, there would be more prosecutions.

“I felt a sense of relief when Sen. Ben Bruce said that five ladies admitted to him that they were raped.

“Before now people were dying in silence but today people are reporting cases of rape and other sexual offences.

“We
call on our ladies to report any form of molestation to appropriate
agencies. It is because reports were not made in the past it continued
to date,’’ Ekweremadu said.

He commended the judiciary, particularly the courts for prosecuting more sexual offences cases in recent times.

He
called on all to work towards curbing rape, adding that “the
callousness of rape these days does not even give doubt on penetration
because of the level of harm suffered by victims.

“We need to
re-define what constitutes the offence of rape and we also need to amend
our laws to define what penetration is because it could be anal.’’